Overview

• Standard Chartered's Q3 pre-tax profits fell by 54% to $633 million, largely due to a $697 million impairment on its investment in China Bohai Bank and a $186 million loss in Chinese commercial real estate.
• The London-based bank's shares fell by approximately 13% in intra-day trading on the back of these impairment charges.
• The bank’s losses reflect the ongoing crisis in China's property market, involving major real estate developers like Evergrande Group, which have defaulted on hundreds of millions in debt repayments.
• Standard Chartered's total exposure to the commercial real estate market is $12.5 billion, down from $14.6 billion in the previous quarter, reflecting the bank's attempts to mitigate the risks associated with China's economic downturn.
• Despite the impaired charges, Standard Chartered's CFO, Andy Halford, claims that the bank's overall performance remains strong and expresses confidence in China's projected GDP recovery within the next two to three years.